My last week of class

I have enjoyed this class.  I have learned many ways to help me study and pass exams and also how to use my time and resources effectively.  I have also learned that I am a procrastinator who needs to remember the end goal and stay on top of things.  I appreciate all the Dr. Nichols has provided to me and the lessons that I have learned.  Wish me luck with my next series of classes.

10/20/30 Power Point Presentation

A power point presentation should be to the point and easy to understand.  If you get carried away with slides and animation your audience can get lost and not follow what you are saying.  To ensure that you have an effective presentation you should follow the 10/20/30 rule for power points.  No more than 10 slides in the presentation.  These ten slides should be as follows.
1. Problem
2. Your Solution
3. Business Model
4. Technology
5. Marketing and Sales
6. Competition
7. Team
8. Projections/Milestones
9. Status/Timeline
10. Summary and Call to Action
Next your presentation should be no more than 20 minutes long.  This give you time to get your point across while maintaining the audience attention.  Any longer than this and you may begin to loose your audience to other things.  Lastly the font on your slides should be no smaller than 30 point.  This makes any text large enough that is can easily be read by all and keeps the focus on what you are saying.

Using Keywords to do a Literature Search

Keywords for Literature Search

                By using keywords in a literature search you can narrow down the amount of articles, books, and journals that are pulled.  The use of keywords allow you to take a general topic like science and narrow it down to the study of plants.  You can look at articles that are generally associated with your topic and not in the larger topic of science.  This takes the amount of time spent on research way down.  Using a five day plan you can allow more time for putting the paper together and proof reading if you use keyword searches in your work.

Many schools have online library resources that you can search for information in.  The keyword search can help you narrow down the search results and give you many articles to choose from.  This is great if you need a large number of resources for a paper.

5-Day Study Plan

5-Day Study Plan

                The five day study plan is a plan designed to help you space your learning out over a few days so that you are not cramming at the last minute.  This five day plan gives a structure to follow so that you allow enough time for each section for review and practice.  Step one is to increase your study time.  Many students do not do well on test because they do not allow enough time to study and prepare for exams.  By breaking your study time up over five days you can allow yourself more time to study and review the material without being overwhelmed.  Next you need to space your study time.  If you know you want to study eight to ten hours for your exam, do a couple hours a day.  This helps you retain what you are reading and no get overwhelmed in the process.  Third you will need to divide the material.  Divide the material into groups to study so that you are studying similar information in your smaller one or two hour sessions.  If you have four chapters that will be covered on the exam you may break it down and study one chapter each day then do a final review on day five.  Modifying the plan is the next step.  If you have already written down some possible questions you may not need so much preparation time, prepare less and review more.  Next you will plan active study tasks.  This allows you to expand your study time to more specific tasks, like reading questions and answering them out loud.    Lastly you will use active review strategies.  Self test yourself.  Have someone read your questions to you and you answer.  Reciting the information helps you remember it when it comes time for the test.  By using these steps over a five day period you can increase your grade and retention of the information presented.

3 Preparation and Review Strategies that I love.

3 preparation and review strategies

1. Condense your text and notes.

                By reading over your text and notes again you can make a list of the information you need to review or read again.  After several weeks in a course some material should be second nature therefore you may not need to re-read it again for review.  You can simplify what you need to study based on what you have marked for further review.

2. Prepare word cards.

                If you have a large list of vocabulary words, or words you may have to define during your exam word cards are a great study tool.  By reading and reciting the information during your study time you will be able to recall it better on the day of your exam.

3. Create a study sheet.

                Study sheets are a great way to organize the important information you will need to know on exam day.  Many times professors will mention that this may be a test question, flag that information so that you can add it to  your study sheet later.  As a visual learner study sheets work great for me.

Goals

Below is an example of my personal goal.  Step one is to list my goal.  Step two is to cover any obstacles that I will be faced with.  Step three is to list all resources that I have.  Step four is revise my goal based on the obstacles and resources that I have.  Step five is to finalize my goal into a more specific and polished goal.

My Goal:

Step 1: I want to graduate with my Master's Degree in Accounting.

Step 2: Obstacles

                1. A four year old who wants to be involved with sports.

                2. A second baby on the way.

                3. Money, I do not get financial aid so my student loans are growing by the minute.

                4. Working a full time job.

Step 3: Resources

                1. My mother

                2. My husband

                3. My teachers

                4. My boss

Step 4: Revised Goal.  I will graduate with my Master's Degree in Accounting.

Step 5: Polished Goal.  I will graduate with my Master's Degree in Accounting from Shorter University by December  2014.

Seven Habits

The following are the Seven Habits to be successful.

1.  Be Proactive.   Change starts from within so one must be proactive and make changes today.  For example; I know that I tend to put things off until the last minute, this is a behavior that I need to correct to be successful.

2.  Begin with the End in Mind.  Develop a mission statement and extend that mission statement into long term goals.

3. Put First Things First.   Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission first.  Make time for each thing you need to do.  Using a calendar with your day broken down by the hour helps.

4. Think Win/Win.  Seek agreements and relationships that are beneficial to you and your goal.

5.  Seek First to Understand, Then be Understood.  First seek to understand what the other party is telling you.  Once you have understanding of what they are saying, then you can begin to have that party understand what you are conveying.

6.  Synergize.  Communicate and  find way for everyone to benefit from each others differences.  One persons weakness may be another persons strong suit.  Use each other for help and everyone will benefit.

7. Sharpen the Saw.  Take time out to build production capacity through personal renewal of  the physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.